9726707 Muller This award supports a three year collaborative research project between Professor Miklos Muller of Rockefeller University and Dr. Masami Hasegawa of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Japan. The researchers will be undertaking studies relating to the origin and evolution of amitochondriate protists. The main goal of the collaboration is an in-depth study of the nature and phylogenesis of single celled eukaryotes that harbor no mitochondria, functioning as energy conservation systems. Although mitochondria provide a significant energenetic advantage to eukaryotic organisms, they are absent from a number of independent lineages. According to phylogenetic reconstructions some but not all amitochondriate protists represent early branches of the eukaryotic tree. Recent research suggests that most if not all amitochondriates descended from mitochondria containing ancestors. The research aims to contribute data and concepts in an effort to resolve this central issue of the evolution of eukaryotic cells. This project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise, research capabilities and equipment. The collaboration will unite the Tokyo group to functional molecular facilities fully equipped for cultivation of the protists, enzyme studies and molecular cloning. The Rockefeller group will have access, in Tokyo, to extensive computing facilities with high-powered, novel methods of sequence comparison and phylogenetic reconstruction. Results of the research should significantly advance understanding of the evolutionary history of an unusual but widely distributed group of eukaryotes. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. ***
